How to Find the Best Black Friday Deals Online
For the past four years, my job has required all ads and brochures to be read in the days and weeks leading up to Black Friday. This year I am almost free from this task. Instead of keeping an eye on sales, lightning deals, and door guards early Friday morning, I can get enough sleep. And then I go to the store.
I am often asked if a particular item will go on sale for the holidays. Sometimes people ask me how I shop, since I need to know all the offers. But I can’t even pretend to memorize all the transactions; instead, I have a four-step method for researching Black Friday sales prices.
Check out BestBlackFriday.com sales
Instead of visiting every major online retailer that might have the product I’m looking for, I visit BestBlackFriday . If you would like to see a Black Friday ad for a particular store, you can click on the products to go directly to that seller’s product page. If you’re not sure who has the best price, you can search by brand or product type and it will show you retailers offering a discounted price. Help in the kitchen. Blows. iPhone. Notebook. Just enter it to get the lowest prices on one page of search results.
Check Camelcamelcamel to Compare Amazon Prices
I know shopping on Amazon isn’t everything, especially with recent concerns about employee safety . But with its competitive pricing, it’s worth taking a look at how much Amazon charges for everything on your list. I visit Camelcamelcamel to do this. I am adding an Amazon listing URL to see the price history for the past few months. This helps me catch any ridiculous price inflation that may have occurred in the lead-up to the holidays.
If I’m feeling elusive, I go through popular products to get a general glimpse of current prices.
Check Rakuten for Discounts
By now I’m pretty sure which product I’m planning to buy and in which store. It’s time to check for money back offers. For the sake of simplicity, I’m sticking to one refund portal: Rakuten . (You may know him by his old name, eBates.)
A brand-specific money-back offer does not guarantee that I will shop from that seller. If the price is lower elsewhere, but there is no discount at the other store, I would prefer to get the discount in advance. I need to be sure that I have already found the best price before checking for an optional money back offer.
Double check the shipping cost
Before moving on to the final stage of ordering, I need to know exactly how much it will cost to deliver the package to my door. This is usually pretty straightforward at this time of year, as many stores offer free shipping during the holidays. But I like to know that any shipping costs shown for my order does not completely cancel out the savings I have gained from following the steps above.
That’s all! This is my whole system of evaluating Black Friday offers when I buy items from my own list. If you prefer spreadsheets, sprinkle all of your holiday advertisements on the floor, or any other way of figuring out which offers are best for you this holiday season, by all means, don’t let me stop you. But my four-step method helps me shop quickly, which prevents me from overspending on many of the material temptations of the season.